Apparatuses and methods for transistor protection by charge sharing

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses and methods for protecting transistors through charge sharing are disclosed herein. An example apparatus includes a transistor comprising a gate node and a bulk node, a charge sharing circuit coupled between the gate and bulk nodes, and logic. The charge sharing circuit is configure to equalize charge differences between the gate and bulk nodes, and the logic is configured to enable the charge sharing circuit based at least in part on a combination of first and second signals, which indicate the presence of a condition.

BACKGROUND

Conventional FLASH memory may operate in various operating modes, suchas erase, program, and read. During each of these operating modes, thestorage cells of the FLASH memory, along with supporting logic, mayexperience different operating conditions (e.g., voltage levels)associated with each mode. While in one or more of the operating modes,the memory may experience unexpected and unwanted transient conditionsthat may alter the performance of the memory and/or ultimately causedamage to one or more internal components. The damage, in the worstcase, may render the memory inoperable. For example, if a FLASH memoryexperiences power loss while performing an erase operation, theoperating voltages applied to various transistors within the memory mayexperience permanent physical damage, which may lead to deviceinoperability. Other similar conditions may also arise that may lead tosimilar failures in face of a power loss or transient voltage spike, forexample, occurring concurrently with the performance of an operation. Assuch, it may be desirable to detect the occurrence of such conditionsand reduce or prevent damage to the memory.

SUMMARY

Examples of the disclosure may include a charge sharing circuit andlogic for establishing a charge sharing path between nodes of one ormore transistors. For example, a charge sharing circuit may be coupledbetween gate and bulk nodes of a transistor, and the charge sharingcircuit is configured to equalize charge difference between the gate andbulk nodes. Logic, which may be coupled to the charge sharing circuit,may be configured to enable the charge sharing circuit based at least inpart on a combination of first and second signals, wherein the first andsecond signals are indicative of a condition.

Examples of the disclosure may include a method of establishing a chargesharing path based on the occurrence of a condition. For example, amethod may include monitoring for the occurrence of a condition, and,based on the occurrence of the condition, coupling a gate node and abulk node of a transistor and de-coupling the gate node and the bulknode from first and second voltages, respectively. The condition mayinclude the loss of power during an erase operation.

Examples of the disclosure may include a control circuit configured tocouple nodes of one or more transistor based on the occurrence of acondition. For example, the control circuit may be configured to controlcoupling of a gate and bulk nodes of a transistor based on theoccurrence of a condition. The control circuit may be further configuredto detect the occurrence of the condition. Additionally, a chargesharing circuit may be coupled between the gate and bulk nodes of thetransistor and configured to couple the gate and bulk nodes togetherbased on a control signal provided by the control circuit.

Examples of the disclosure may include a method of enabling a chargesharing circuit based on the occurrence of a condition. For example, themethod may include providing a high negative voltage to a gate node of atransistor during a first operational mode of a memory, and providing ahigh positive voltage to a bulk node of the transistor during the firstoperation mode of the memory. The method may further include enabling acharge sharing circuit between the gate and bulk nodes of the transistorresponsive to a control signal, the control signal based at least inpart on the occurrence of the condition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a transistor in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of charge equalization circuit in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4A is an example charge sharing circuit in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4B is an example of a charge sharing circuit in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5A is an example control circuit in accordance with an embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 5B is an example of a high voltage control circuit in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a memory according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Apparatuses and methods for protecting transistors through chargesharing are disclosed herein. Certain details are set forth below toprovide a sufficient understanding of embodiments of the disclosure.However, it will be clear to one having skill in the art thatembodiments of the disclosure may be practiced without these particulardetails. Moreover, the particular embodiments of the present disclosuredescribed herein are provided by way of example and should not be usedto limit the scope of the disclosure to these particular embodiments. Inother instances, well-known circuits, control signals, timing protocols,and software operations have not been shown in detail in order to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus 100 (e.g., an integratedcircuit, a memory device, a memory system, an electronic device orsystem, a smart phone, a tablet, a computer, a server, etc.) accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 100 mayinclude an access line voltage generator 102, an access line driver 104,and a memory array 106. The access line voltage generator 102 maygenerate voltages of various levels dependent upon an operational modeof the apparatus 100 (e.g., program, erase, read, etc.) and provide thevoltages to the access line driver 104. The access line voltagegenerator 102, for example, may generate the voltages by level shiftingthe voltages from a base voltage, or operating voltage, of the apparatus100. For example, global supply voltages may be the basis for generatingthe various voltages, such as a supply voltage V_(cc), a programmingvoltage, an erase voltage, etc. The access line driver 104 may providethe voltages to various blocks or individual memory cells of the memoryarray 106 via access lines, the access lines may be word lines, forexample. The access lines may be individually addressable or may beaddressed in blocks of cells and the cells addressed may depend on anaddress received by the apparatus 100, from a memory controller forexample.. The apparatus 100 may be included, for example, in a memorysuch as volatile and non-volatile memory, a synchronous random accessmemory (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), FLASH (both NAND and NOR), or theapparatus 100 may represent a portion of such a memory.

During operation, the apparatus 100 may experience various unexpectedconditions. An unexpected condition may be based on the characteristicsof one of the operational modes and an unplanned/undesiredvoltage/current occurrence, e.g., loss of power, voltage spikes, and/orvoltage/current transients. Such unexpected conditions may undesirablydamage various components of the apparatus 100, such as the access linevoltage generator 102. For example, an operational mode of the apparatus100 may result in the application of high voltages, both positive andnegative, to various of transistors included in the apparatus 100, suchas transistors in the access line voltage generator 102 and transistorsin the memory array 106. To further illustrate, during an eraseoperation, the access line voltage generator 102 may be providing alarge negative voltage to the memory array 106, which may be applied togates of memory cell transistors. The memory cell transistors may alsoreceive a large positive voltage on their source, drain, and bulk nodesto implement the erase operation. If, however, a power loss occurs whilethe high positive and negative voltages are applied to the memory celltransistors, transistors in the access line voltage generator 102 may bedamaged. This damage may result in the apparatus 100 becominginoperable. Damage to the various components of the apparatus 100 mayalso occur during or after a program operation, as well.

To further illustrate, one or more transistors included in the accessline voltage generator 102, such as transistors 108 and 110, may beproviding a high negative voltage, V1, to a block of transistors, e.g.,memory cells, in the memory array 106. The high negative voltage may beapplied through access lines to the gates of the transistors in thememory cells. In this illustration, the access line driver 104 may beoperating as a pass gate and may be connecting the transistors 108 and110 to the block of transistors if the memory array 106. The transistorsin the memory array 106, as represented by transistor 112, may thenexperience a high negative voltage V1 applied to a gate node while alarge positive voltage V2 is applied to source, drain, and bulk nodes ofthe transistors. The voltages V1 and V2 may be generated from positiveand negative global supply voltages supplied to the apparatus 100. Thepositive global supply voltage, which may be the basis of V2, is notshown in FIG. 1. The bulk node may be comprised of a p-well node and adeep n-well node. In some embodiments, a bulk node may referred to ascomprising the p-well, deep n-well, source, and drain nodes. Thisoperational mode, for example, may be an erase operation the apparatus100 is performing on a block of memory cells of the memory array 106.During performance of the erase operation, the apparatus 100 may losepower, which may occur for any number of reasons. The occurrence of theloss of power during, or directly after, the erase cycle may create arelatively high voltage differential across the transistor 112, whichmay result in damage to at least transistor 108 of the access linevoltage generator 102. As a result, the access line voltage generator102 may cease to operate as designed.

The potential damage to transistor 108 may be due to several factors.These factors may include how the positive voltage on the bulk node ofthe transistor 112 decays relative to the negative voltage on the gateof the transistor 112, the number of memory array 106 transistors in ablock, and the relative voltages on the various nodes of the transistor108. These factors may combine to cause damage to the transistor 106 ifa power loss occurs while the voltages applied during an erase operationare still present on the various transistors depicted in FIG. 1. Forillustration, during an erase operation, V1 may be −12 volts and V2 maybe +10 volts. As such, based on the depiction in FIG. 1, V1 may beapplied to the gate node of the transistor 112 through an access line atleast including node A, the gate node, source node, and bulk node of thetransistor 108. V2 may be applied to the source, drain, and bulk node(e.g., p-well, and deep n-well) of the transistor 112. An eraseoperation, as noted, may be performed on a block of memory cells withinthe memory array 106, such that, for example, a million memory cells areerased. Due to the block erase, there may be a million transistors 112coupled together and to the transistor 108 through node A. If a powerloss occurs, the drain, source, p-well and deep n-well voltages of thetransistor 112 may quickly decay to zero. However, the voltage on thegate node of transistor 112 may decay more slowly. Further, due tocapacitive coupling between the gate node of transistor 112 and thesource, drain, and bulk nodes of transistor 112, the gate node oftransistor 112 may be pulled to an even lower negative voltage, −14volts for example. Since the block of transistors of the memory arraymay be pulled down to −14 volts, the voltage at node A is also pulleddown to −14 volts. This large negative voltage at node A may also bepresent on the bulk node of the transistor 108. However, since the drainof transistor 108 is coupled to Vss, which may be ground, a voltagedifference across a p-n junction between the p-well and the drain may belarger than the breakdown voltage of that p-n junction, which may bedamaged as a result.

One solution to reduce or eliminate this failure mechanism may be toestablish a charge sharing path to reduce a high negative voltage acrossone or more transistors of the access line voltage generator 102. Forexample, a charge sharing circuit coupled between a gate node and a bulknode of certain transistors included in the memory array 106, forexample, may be configured to reduce or eliminate such a failuremechanism. The charge sharing circuit may reduce the incidence ofdestructive voltages from being established within one or moretransistors of the access line voltage generator 102, which may still becoupled to the memory array 106 after the charge sharing path isestablished.

The charge sharing circuit may include switches to establish the circuitbased on the occurrence of the condition (e.g., the loss of power whilea high negative voltage is applied to a gate node of a transistor andhigh positive voltages are applied to source, bulk, and drain nodes ofthe transistor). For example, when a power failure signal occurs while,or directly after, the memory is performing an erase operation, thecombination of the two representative signals may control a plurality ofswitches to establish the charge sharing circuit. The enablement of thecharge sharing path may couple a gate to the body of one or moretransistors in the memory array 106, e.g., memory cells, to avoid theestablishment of a large reverse bias across p-n junctions of the one ormore transistors of the access line voltage generator 102, which mayphysically damage the p-n junction. Further, the charge sharing path maydecouple the one or more transistors of the memory array 106 from supplyvoltages, one of which may be provided by the access line voltagegenerator 102. A node of the access line voltage generator 102 supplyingthe supply voltage may be placed in a floating state, e.g., not tied toa source or a ground, and the voltage of the floating node may reduce oreliminate the failure mechanism. The enablement of the charge sharingpath may equalize charge differences between two sides of the p-njunction, between a gate node and a bulk node of a transistor. In otherembodiments, the power failure signal described above may be substitutedby an end of operation signal, e.g., at the end of an erase operation,and node discharge may occur under the control of the charge sharingcircuit.

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a transistor 200 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, which may beused to illustrate the destructive mechanism discussed above. Thetransistor 200 may, for example, represent a transistor included in theaccess line voltage generator 102 of FIG. 1, such as the transistor 108for example. The transistor 200 depicted in the cross-sectional view maybe manufactured in a p-type substrate 210 and may include suchnodes/layers as a deep n-well 220, a p-well 230, a source 240, a drain250, and a gate 260. The deep n-well 220 and the p-well 230 nodes maycollectively be referred to as a bulk node, but they may however beindividually accessed during the operation of the transistor dependingon the operational mode. The various layers shown in the cross-sectionalview may be manufactured by any known means (e.g., ion implantation,epitaxial growth or regrowth, diffusion, etc.) and the processing of thedepicted layers is a non-limiting aspect of the present disclosure.Additionally, the cross-sectional view is for illustrative purposes onlyand one skilled in the art would recognize other structures that wouldfall within the scope of the present disclosure.

During operation of the access line voltage generator 102, for example,the representative transistor 200 may have various voltage levelscoupled to and/or supplied by one or more of the nodes shown in FIG. 2.For example, during an erase operation the gate node 260 may be coupledto negative (−) 12 volts, which may be provided by source 240, andp-well 230. The drain and deep n-well 220 nodes may be coupled toground. The node A may be coupled to the source 240 and p-well 230, andmay also be coupled to an access line. The high negative voltageassociated with the gate 260 may also be applied to an access line atnode A that is coupled to memory cells of the memory 106 via the accessline driver 104, for example. The voltage provided to the memory array106 by the access line voltage generator 102 and the access line driver104 may provide voltages to a block of addressed memory cells to performthe erase operation. If, however, there is a power loss during the eraseoperation, the voltages applied to the various nodes of the transistor200 may decay to zero at various rates. The difference in decay time mayresult in damage to the representative transistor 200.

The difference in decay times may be due to capacitive coupling of thevarious nodes of the transistor 200 to the other nodes of thetransistor. This coupling may cause unexpected voltage increases withinthe transistor 200 that may lead to physically damaging one or moreinternal p-n junctions. Due to the node A being coupled to a block ofmemory cells through an access line, the voltage on node A mayexperience a negative voltage spike, which may be applied to p-well 230.The negative voltage spike may cause the voltage on node A to decreaseto negative 14 volts, for example. A negative voltage on the p-well 240and the drain 250 being at ground, a large reverse bias may form acrossthe p-n junction between the p-well 230 and the drain 250. The largereverse bias may be larger than the breakdown voltage of the particularjunction. This large reverse bias may result in thermal runaway leadingto physical damage of the p-n junction. The damage to the p-n junctionmay result in the junction becoming essentially a short circuit.Ultimately, the access line voltage generator 102 may be unable toperform subsequent erase operations.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a charge equalization circuit 300 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The circuit 300may be part of a memory device, a NOR flash memory for example, and mayinclude a charge sharing circuit 302 and a control circuit 304. Thecontrol circuit 304 may monitor for the occurrence of a condition suchas the occurrence of a power failure while an erase operation is beingperformed, for example. Another example condition may be the loss ofpower directly after an erase condition has completed but before thevoltages applied during the erase operation have been changed ordissipated. Upon the occurrence of the condition, the control circuit304 may enable the charge sharing circuit 302 by placing various logiclevels onto control lines 1, 2, and 3. The enablement of the chargesharing circuit 302 may disconnect one or more memory array transistors,and at least an access line voltage generator, coupled to the chargesharing circuit 302 from the positive and negative global supplyvoltages. Additionally, the charge sharing circuit 302 may establish acharge sharing path between gate nodes of the one or more memory arraytransistors and bulk nodes of the one or more memory array transistors.The memory array transistors, however, may still be coupled to an accessline voltage generator after the global supply voltages have beendecoupled and the charge sharing path has been established. Theestablishment of the charge sharing path may result in charge at boththe gate nodes and the bulk nodes equalizing. Further, disconnecting theglobal supply voltages from the one or more memory array transistors mayprevent nodes of one or more access line voltage generator transistorsfrom being pulled below an erase voltage, such as −12 volts for example.Preventing nodes of the one or more access line voltage generatortransistors from being pulled below the erase voltage may reduce oreliminate damage from occurring at a p-n junction between theirrespective p-wells and drains.

The control circuit 304 may include various logic gates and devices thatmay receive various control and status signals of the deviceincorporating the charge equalization circuit 300. The occurrence of thecondition may cause the control circuit 304 to establish the chargesharing path and de-couple the charge sharing circuit 302 from thevoltage sources V1 and V2. The charge sharing circuit 302 may includevarious switches, e.g., transistors, which may de-couple the voltagesources and establish the charge sharing path based on a state of thethree control signals.

FIG. 4A is an example charge sharing circuit 400 in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure. The charge sharing circuit 400 maybe used for the charge sharing circuit 302 of FIG. 3, for example, andmay be configured to establish a charge sharing path between gate nodesand sour, drain, p-well, and deep n-well nodes of one or more memoryarray transistors as represented by transistor 402. The charge sharingcircuit 400 may be coupled to a transistor 402 and both the transistor402 and the charge sharing circuit may be included in a NOR flashmemory. The transistor 402 may represent transistors of a memory array,such as the memory array 106 of FIG. 1. The charge sharing path 400 maybe included in a memory array, for example, and the voltages V1 and V2may be provided by an access line voltage generator (not shown), forexample. The voltages V1 and V2 may be based on negative and positiveglobal supply voltages, respectively, which may be provided by a host.The voltages V1 and V2 may be provided to the transistor 402 forperforming various operations, such as programming and erasingoperations.

The charge sharing circuit 400 may include an n-channel transistor 404,a p-channel transistor 406 and a switch SW3, with the combination of thetransistors 404, 406 and the switch SW3 configured to couple the gatenode of the transistor 402 to the bulk node and the source and drainnodes of the transistor 402. The n-channel transistor 404 may be acurrent limiting transistor configured to slowly increase currentthrough the charge sharing circuit for charge dissipation. The chargesharing circuit may further include a switch SW1 and a switch SW2 whichmay disconnect the gate node and the source, bulk, and drain nodes ofthe transistor 402 from global supply voltages. The control of the threeswitches SW1, 2, and 3 and the n-channel transistor 404 will bedescribed in conjunction with FIG. 5A.

FIG. 4B is an example of a charge sharing circuit 420 in accordance withan embodiment of the present disclosure. The charge sharing circuit 420,which may include switches SW4, 5, and 6, may be configured to establisha charge sharing path between a gate node and the source, drain, p-well,and deep n-well nodes of the transistor 402 base on one or more controlsignals. For example, the switch SW4 may close and the switches SW 5 and6 may open when one or more control signals are received. The controlsignals, for example, may be provided by a control circuit, such as thecontrol circuit 304 of FIG. 3. The control of the switches SW 4, 5, and6 will be further described in conjunction with FIG. 5B.

FIG. 5A is an example control circuit 500 in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure. Control circuit 500 may receive aplurality of signals and, based on logic combinations of those signals,may provide control signals to a charge sharing circuit, such as thecharge sharing circuit 400 of FIG. 4. The control circuit 500 mayreceive various signals indicative of an operation being performed by amemory, for example, or of a state of various components of the chargesharing circuit. The received signals may include a power down signal,an erase mode signal, a charge share circuit enable signal, an accessline connect/disconnect signal, and a source/bulk/drainconnect/disconnect signal. The power down signal may transition to ahigh logic level, for example, when a loss of power occurs. The erasesignal may be in a high logic level, for example, when an eraseoperation is being performed by a memory, a memory that may be orinclude the apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 for example.

The control circuit 500 may include an AND gate 502 configured toreceive at an input a signal indicating an erase operation is currentlybeing performed by a memory, for example, such as the apparatus 100 ofFIG. 1. The AND gate 502 may also be configured to receive at anotherinput signals indicating a power loss, for example. An output of the ANDgate 502 may be provided to other logic of the control circuit 500, suchas an AND gate 504, an OR gate 506, and an OR gate 508. The output ofthe AND gate 502 may indicate the occurrence of an unwanted condition,such as a loss of power while an erase operation is being executed orhas just completed execution, for example. Other conditions that mayalso result in damaging transistors may similarly be monitored for anddetected. Further, the output of the AND gate 502 may initiate controlsignals to operate the various switches of the charge sharing circuit400 of FIG. 4.

The control circuit may additionally include the AND gate 504 which maybe configured to receive the output of the AND gate 502 and a signal fortriggering the switch SW2 (the signal S/B/D connect/disconnect), whichmay connect and disconnect the source, p-well, deep n-well, and drainnode from the voltage source V2. Also potentially included in thecontrol circuit 500 is the OR gate 506 which may be configured toreceive the output of the AND gate 502 and a signal for triggering theswitch SW1 (the access line connect/disconnect), which may connect anddisconnect the gate node/access line from the voltage source V1. Furtherincluded in the control circuit 500 may be the OR gate 508 which may beconfigured to receive the output of the AND gate 502 and a signal fortriggering the switch SW3 (the charge share circuit enable), which mayclose the charge sharing circuit 400 and couple the gate node to thesource/bulk/drain nodes of the transistor 402. The output of the OR gate508 may also turn on the transistor 404 so that current begins to flowthrough the charge share circuit 400. The configuration of the controlcircuit 500 is for illustrative purposes only and one skilled in the artwould appreciate the multitude of designs that may be employed toimplement like function. Any such design would fall within the scope ofthe current disclosure. The other signals may be used to control thevarious switches included in the charge sharing circuit 400, forexample. Operation of the control circuit 500 and how it controls thecharge sharing circuit 400 will now be described.

During an erase operation the erase signal provided to the AND gate 502may be at a high logic level. If power is lost during the eraseoperation, then the power down signal may transition to the high logiclevel causing an output of the AND gate 502 to transition to the highlogic level. The output of the AND gate 502 may in turn affect theoutputs of the AND gate 504 and the OR gates 506, 508. While the outputof the AND gate 502 is at a low logic level (e.g., before a loss ofpower), the control 1 signal may be at a high logic level due to theinverted input of the AND gate 504 coupled to the output of the AND gate502. However, upon loss of power and the transition of the output of theAND gate 502, the control 1 signal, the output of the AND gate 504, maytransition to a low logic level. Due to the control 1 signaltransitioning low, the switch SW 2 may open to disconnect the source,bulk, and drain nodes of the transistor 402 from the positive globalsupply. Concurrently, the logic level high output of the AND gate 502provided to the OR gate 506 may cause the output of the OR gate 506 totransition to high. The output of the OR gate 506, the control 2 signal,may then cause the switch SW1 to open so that the gate node/access lineis disconnected from the negative global supply. The switching of thetwo switches SW1 and SW2 may result in the charge sharing circuit andthe transistor 402 being isolated from the positive and negative voltagesupplies, which may result in charge equalization between the gate nodeand the bulk (e.g., the p-well and the deep n-well) of the transistor402.

The high logic level of the output of the AND gate 502 provided to theOR gate 508 may also cause the output of the OR gate 508 to transitionto a high logic level. The control 3 signal, the output of the OR gate508, may be provided to the switch SW3 and the n-channel transistor 404,which may result in SW3 closing and the transistor 404 turning on (e.g.,conducting) so that the circuit coupling the gate node and the source,bulk, drain nodes of the transistor 402 is enabled. Upon the chargesharing circuit 400 becoming enabled, the various nodes of thetransistor 402 may be coupled together. The coupled nodes may then decayto zero due to the loss of power, which may reduce or eliminate theoccurrence of the reverse bias across the p-n junction between the drainand the p-well of the transistor 402 due in part to equalization of thecharge differences between the gate node and bulk node. In someembodiments, the charge sharing circuit 400 is configured to providesubstantially simultaneous decay of the coupled nodes to zero to reduceseverity of a reverse bias condition responsive to the loss of power,and thereby limit damage that may occur otherwise.

The detection of a power loss during an erase operation, which may bethe result of the control circuit 500 monitoring the occurrence of thecondition, may reduce or eliminate the possibility of damage to thetransistors of the access line voltage generator 102, for example. Theenablement of the charge sharing circuit may allow the various charges(e.g., voltages) applied to the nodes of the transistor to dissipatethrough a more favorable circuit than through coupling internallythrough the transistor, thereby averting damage.

FIG. 5B is an example of a high voltage control circuit 520 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The highvoltage control circuit 520, which may simply be referred to as thecontrol circuit 520, may be configured to control a charge sharingcircuit, such as the charge sharing circuit 420 of FIG. 4B. The controlcircuit 520 may be high voltage logic, which may be powered for a longeramount of time, as compared to low voltage circuits, in the event poweris lost. This longer operating period in the event of a power loss maybe due to the high voltage control circuit 520 being powered by chargepumps. This may provide a more robust and reliable control of a chargesharing circuit, for example. The control circuit 520 may monitor forthe occurrence of a condition, such as power loss after high negativeand positive voltages are applied to a block of memory array cells, suchas for an erase or program operation. Based on the occurrence of thecondition, the control circuit 520 may provide control signals to acharge sharing circuit in order to establish a charge sharing path andto decouple global power supply voltages from the memory array and atleast an access line voltage generator, for example.

The control circuit 520 may include a controller 522, level shifters 524and 526, HV AND gates 528, 530, and 534, and a HV latch 532. An inverter536 may also be included. The controller 522 may be an internal memorycontroller and may provide signals indicating a current mode ofoperation of the memory device, an erase operation for example. Thesignals provided by the controller 522 may include an erase signal andan erase state latch signal. The erase signal may be provided when thememory is performing an erase operation and the erase state latch signalmay be provided so that the HV latch 532 latches the erase signal. Thelevel shifters may first receive the erase and erase state latch signalsand, in response, increase a voltage level of the signals. The highervoltage signals may then be provided to one input of the HV AND gates528 and 530, respectively. A power down signal, which may be provided byan external controller or a host, may be inverted by the inverter 536then provided to another input of the HV AND gates 528 and 530. Anoutput of the HV AND gate 528 may be provided to an input of the HVlatch 532 and a timing input of the HV latch 532 may receive the outputof the HV AND gate 530. An output of the HV latch 532 and the power downsignal may be provided to the HV AND gate 534, an output of whichprovides a control signal. The control signal, for example, may beprovided to the charge sharing circuit 420 for controlling the switchesSW4, 5, and 6.

In operation, the controller 522 may provide the erase signal and theerase state latch signal, which may be at a high logic level forexample, to indicate an erase operation is being performed by a memorydevice that includes the control circuit 520. The higher voltage eraseand erase state latch signals may then be provided to the HV AND gates528 and 530, respectively. While power is supplied to the memory devicethat includes the control circuit 520, the power down signal may be at alow logic level, for example. As such, an output of the inverter 536 mayprovide an inverted power down signal, at a high logic level forexample, to the HV AND gates 528 and 530. While both inputs of the HVAND gates 528 and 530 are at a high logic level, then the outputs of theHV AND gates 528 and 530 may also be at a high logic level, which maycause the HV latch 532 to latch the state of the erase signal. Thelatched state of the erase signal, which may be at a high logic level,may then be provided to the HV AND gate 534. The output of the HV ANDgate 534 may then be determined by the state of the power down signal.

While the power down signal is at a low logic state, which may indicatethat power is present, the output of the HV AND gate 534 may be low. Alow output by the HV AND gate 534 may not cause the charge sharingcircuit 420 to be enabled. For example, a low output of the HV AND gate534 may not cause switch SW4 to close and switches SW 5 and 6 to open.As such, the global supplies may remain coupled to the memory and thecharge sharing path may not be established.

However, if the power down signal transitions to a high logic state,which may indicate that power is no longer present, the output of the HVAND gate 534 may transition to a high logic level. A high output by theHV AND gate 534 may cause the charge sharing circuit 420 to be enabledand the global supplies to be decoupled from the memory. For example, ahigh output of the HV AND gate 534 may cause switch SW4 to close andswitches SW 5 and 6 to open. As such, the global supplies may bedecoupled from the memory and the charge sharing path may beestablished.

FIG. 6 illustrates a memory 600 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The memory 600 includes a memory array 630 with aplurality of memory cells. The memory cells may be non-volatile memorycells, such as floating gate memory cells, or may generally be any typeof memory cells. The memory 600 may include the access line voltagegenerator 102 of FIG. 1, not shown in FIG. 6. In some examples, thememory array 630 may be divided into a plurality of memory planes.

Command signals, address signals and data signals may be provided to thememory 600 as sets of sequential and/or parallel input/output (“I/O”)signals. Data signals may be transmitted through an I/O bus 628 The I/Obus 628 is connected to an I/O control unit 620 that routes the signalsbetween the I/O bus 628 and an internal data bus 622, an internaladdress bus 624, and an internal command bus 626. The memory 600 alsoincludes a control logic unit 610 that receives a number of controlsignals externally to control the operation of the memory 600. Thecombination of the control logic unit 610 and the I/O control unit 620may facilitate memory access of the memory array 630.

The address bus 624 applies block-row address signals to a row decoder640 and column address signals to a column decoder 650. The row decoder640 and column decoder 650 may be used to select blocks of memory ormemory cells for memory operations, for example, read, program, anderase operations. The column decoder 650 may enable data signals to beapplied to columns of memory corresponding to the column address signalsand allow data signals to be coupled from columns corresponding to thecolumn address signals.

In response to the memory commands decoded by the control logic unit610, the memory cells in the array 630 are read, programmed, or erased.Read, program, erase circuits 668 coupled to the memory array 630receive control signals from the control logic unit 610 and includevoltage generators for providing various voltages for read, program, anderase operations. In some examples, the read, program, erase circuits668 may include access line voltage generator circuits that include acharge sharing circuit and corresponding control circuit to reducepotential damages to the access line voltage generator circuits due tothe occurrence of an unwanted condition, power loss during an eraseoperation for example. The control circuit may monitor for theoccurrence of the unwanted condition and, upon detection of thecondition, may enable the charge sharing circuit and disconnecttransistors from voltage sources to reduce or eliminate a large reversebias occurring across an internal p-n junction of the transistors. Thereduction of the reverse bias or its elimination may prevent the p-njunction from physical damage.

After the row address signals have been applied to the address bus 624,the I/O control unit 620 routes data signals to a cache register 670 fora program operation. The data signals are stored in the cache register670 in successive sets each having a size corresponding to the width ofthe I/O bus 628. The cache register 670 sequentially stores the sets ofdata signals for an entire row or page of memory cells in the array 630.All of the stored data signals are then used to program a row or page ofmemory cells in the array 630 selected by the block-row address coupledthrough the address bus 624. In a similar manner, during a readoperation, data signals from a row or block of memory cells selected bythe block-row address coupled through the address bus 624 are stored ina data register 680. Sets of data signals corresponding in size to thewidth of the I/O bus 628 are then sequentially transferred through theI/O control unit 620 from the cache register 670 to the I/O bus 628.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specificembodiments of the disclosure have been described herein for purposes ofillustration, various modifications may be made without deviating fromthe spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the disclosure isnot limited except as by the appended claims.

1. An apparatus, comprising: a transistor comprising a gate node and abulk node; a charge sharing circuit coupled between the gate node andthe bulk node of the transistor, wherein the charge sharing circuit isconfigured to equalize charge differences between the gate node and thebulk node; and logic configured to enable the charge sharing circuitbased at least in part on a combination of first and second signals, thefirst and second signals indicative of a condition.
 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the transistor further comprises a source node, ap-well node, and a drain node, and wherein the source, p-well, bulk, anddrain nodes are coupled together.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe charge sharing circuit further comprises a switch configured toenable the charge sharing circuit based at least in part on a controlsignal provided by the logic.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein thecharge sharing circuit further comprises a transistor configured toconduct based at least in part on the control signal provided by thelogic.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic is furtherconfigured to disconnect the gate node from a first voltage source andfurther configured to disconnect the bulk node from a second voltagesource.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic provides threecontrol signals configured to enable the discharge circuit anddisconnect the gate node and the bulk node from respective voltagesources.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and secondsignals are a power down signal and an erase operation signal,respectively.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic includes alatch configured to receive signals indicative of an erase mode andlatch an output indicating the same.
 9. The apparatus of the claim 8,wherein the logic is further configured to enable the charge sharingcircuit based at least in part on the output of the latch circuitindicating an erase mode and a power down signal.
 10. A method,comprising: monitoring, by logic, for occurrence of a condition; andbased on the occurrence of the condition, coupling a gate node and abulk node of a transistor and de-coupling the gate node and the bulknode from first and second voltages, respectively.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the condition is the loss of power during an eraseoperation.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the transistor is one ormore memory array transistors of a FLASH memory.
 13. The method of claim10, further comprising generating a control signal responsive tooccurrence of the condition, and wherein coupling the gate node and thebulk node of the transistor comprises enabling a charge sharing circuitcoupled between the gate node and the bulk node of the transistor basedon the control signal.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein monitoring,by logic, for occurrence of a condition comprises: receiving, by thelogic, a power down signal and an erase operation signal; combining, bythe logic, the power down signal and the erase operation signal toprovide an output signal; and combining, by the logic, the output signalwith a charge share circuit enable signal to provide the control signal.15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: combining, by the logic,the output signal with a access line disconnect signal to provide asecond control signal; and providing, by the logic, the second controlsignal to a switch to disconnect the gate node of the transistor from afirst voltage source.
 16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:combining, by the logic, the output signal with a bulk node disconnectsignal to provide a third control signal; and providing, by the logic,the third control signal to a switch to disconnect the bulk node of thetransistor from a second voltage source.
 17. The method of claim 10,wherein monitoring, by logic, for occurrence of a condition comprises:receiving, by the logic, a power down signal and an erase operationsignal; combining, by the logic, the power down signal and the eraseoperation signal to provide an output signal to provide the controlsignal.
 18. An apparatus, comprising: a transistor comprising a gatenode and a bulk; and a control circuit configured to control coupling ofthe gate and the bulk nodes of the transistor together based on theoccurrence of a condition, the control circuit further configured todetect the occurrence of the condition.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18,further comprising a charge sharing circuit coupled between the gate andbulk nodes of the transistor, the charge sharing circuit configured tocouple the gate and bulk nodes of the transistor together based on acontrol signal provided by the control circuit.
 20. The apparatus ofclaim 18, further comprising a first switch coupled between the gatenode and a first voltage source and a second switch coupled between thebulk node and a second voltage source.
 21. The apparatus of claim 20,wherein the control circuit is configured to open the first and secondswitches based on the occurrence of the condition.
 22. The apparatus ofclaim 18, wherein the condition comprises a loss of power during anerase operation.
 23. A method, comprising: providing, by a first voltagesource, a high negative voltage to a gate node of a transistor during afirst operational mode of a memory; providing, by a second voltagesource, a high positive voltage to a bulk node of the transistor duringthe first operational mode of the memory; and enabling a charge sharingcircuit coupled between the gate and bulk nodes of the transistorresponsive to a control signal, the control signal based at least inpart on the occurrence of a condition.
 24. The method of claim 23,further comprising: receiving, by control circuit, a first signalindicative of the first operational mode; receiving, by the controlcircuit, a second signal indicative of a power loss; providing, by thecontrol circuit, the control signal to the charge sharing circuit basedat least on the loss of power while the memory is in the firstoperational mode.
 25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:disconnecting the first voltage source from the gate node; anddisconnecting the second voltage source from the bulk node; wherein thefirst and second voltage sources are disconnected from the gate and bulknodes, respectively, substantially concurrently with enabling the chargesharing circuit.
 26. The method of claim 23, wherein enabling a chargesharing circuit coupled between the gate and bulk nodes of thetransistor responsive to a control signal, the control signal based atleast in part on the occurrence of a condition comprises connecting aswitch, the switch included in the charge sharing circuit, to couple thegate and bulk nodes of the transistor.